Indiana Attorney General

As a honest consumer from your state, I felt it was my responsibility to bring to your attention the following incident.

I have never used anyone to do my Federal Taxes. This year was the first year I would have a child to claim due to the birth of my little girl in January of 2001. I was also getting a pretty good refund. Due to the added difficulty of my taxes and the fact that I was getting around $2000 refund I decided to use H&R Block to due my taxes and take advantage of the Rapid refund they offer. Everything worked out well. I was issued a check for $2000 the very next day. This service cost me $260. I didn’t like spending my money on that but decided not to let it bug me. I cashed the check the next day and paid off several of the bills that had been haunting me since my divorce. I have been working hard to try to get my Credit back on track. Everything was looking good. I even managed to get me a computer with what I had left over. I got a heck of a deal on it. Then about two weeks ago I got a letter from the IRS. My return has been randomly picked for an audit this year. I wasn’t too upset about it. My return was pretty straight forward. I have no other deductions other them my self and my daughter. Pretty easy stuff. Besides I kind of thought it might be interesting to have this experience. I was informed my the IRS that my Tax refund would be delayed 2 to 6 months. No big deal I thought. I had already got my Rapid refund. On February 21, 2002 I got a phone call at work from the bank that issued the Rapid refund check. It seems that the Rapid Refund is a 10 day check anticipation loan. I was informed by the woman I spoke with that I had to give them $2000 immediately to pay off the loan. I explained to her that I was picked for a random audit and that I didn’t have the $2000 anymore. That didn’t matter to her. The only options I was given was to pay the $2000 in full or 25% ($500) Right away. When I told her I didn’t have the money. She told me I should try to borrow from family. Or ask my Employer to loan me the money. RIGHT… She went on about that several times. “There is no one in your family that could loan you the money” . I really thought that in it’s self was out of line. I was also informed that I will keep getting phone calls until this is paid. Also that every month that it is not paid I will incur fines and interest. SO when the IRS does send them the check I will still owe them money. Also this will be reported to the Credit bureaus and I could be sued. It seems to me that a Tax preparation company would be aware that random audits do happen and there would be some sort of exemption to the “10” days for that purpose. I am sure that this was in writing in the contract I signed and I failed to read this. H&R Block was very busy that day and I did feel I was being rushed. I do feel that I should have been verbally notified that this could happen. Basically when you do Rapid Refund your gambling that you won’t be audited and have your check delayed. I am VERY upset about this. And to make things worse I PAID FOR THIS. $260. At this point I am not sure what I can even do about this.

As a resolution, I would like the following:

I feel that they need to be up front. And verbally let people know about this before they start there return.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like more details regarding this incident.

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Security Deposit Question

Posted on 07/29/2001

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA -- As a honest consumer from your state, I felt it was my responsibility to bring to your attention the following incident.

I just recently gave Star Management a security deposit of $875.00, plus other move in fees totaling $75. The next day, I changed my mind about the apartment, and asked for my deposit back. They refused to return any of it (I assumed application fee would not be returned) on the basis that they have a sign on the door saying that deposits are non-refundable. However, I did not sign a lease or any other agreement. My question is: is that legal, and do I have the right to my money?

As a resolution, I would like the following:

I would like to have my deposit refunded to me, without going to small claims court.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like more details regarding this incident.